Important parking update for Jonathan Lucas Parking Garage in Charleston.

Horace G. Smithy Lecture

 About the Lecture:

The Horace G. Smithy Lectureship honors Dr. Smithy, a pioneer in the early days of cardiac surgery. 

On January 30, 1948, Dr. Smithy was a young Assistant Professor of Surgery at MUSC who made medical history by successfully removing scar tissue from a heart valve of a young, incapacitated girl who had been given but a brief time to live.  

The technique employed by the 34-year old Horace G. Smithy was based upon two years of exhaustive research experimentation. Dr. Smithy’s research included the design of a new instrument, known as a valvulotome, to cut scar tissue blocking heart valves of rheumatic fever victims.  He subsequently operated upon six additional patients, four of whom survived.  

Tragically, Dr. Smithy himself had valvular heart disease as a result of rheumatic fever during childhood, and his condition began rapidly deteriorating and Dr. Smithy died on October 28, 1948. However, from his pioneering efforts, enormous progress has been made. Today, reliable prosthetic heart valves are widely available and surgery for valvular heart disease is standardized and carries a very low risk in most individuals.

  
November 12, 2024 Smithy Lecture:

“Things I Never Learned in Residency: Building a Lung Institute”

 Dr. Blackmon


Invited Speaker - Shanda H. Blackmon, M.D., MPH, FACS

Professor of Thoracic Surgery

Executive Director of the Baylor Medicine Lung Institute and Olga

Keith Weiss Endowed Professor of Medicine

Baylor College of Medicine

 

 

 Innovators and Innovation in Cardiac Surgery: Past, Present, and Future

 Innovators and Innovation in Cardiac Surgery: Past, Present, and Future

 Innovators and Innovation in Cardiac Surgery: Past, Present, and Future

 Innovators and Innovation in Cardiac Surgery: Past, Present, and Future

 Innovators and Innovation in Cardiac Surgery: Past, Present, and Future